The Perceived Value of Certification among registered nurses working for a Midwestern Hospital

Purpose:
Goal:discover what nurses working for a Midwestern hospital perceive are benefits from certification. Research questions: to what extent do nurses agree that specialty certification 1)enhances autonomy 2) indicates professional growth, and 3) provides personal satisfaction

Background/Significance:
Specialty certification has a long-standing history that is associated with a perception of high quality nursing care. Specialty certification has a long-standing history that is associated with a perception of high quality nursing care. Knowing that certification correlates with better patient outcomes, satisfaction scores, and excellence, all of which benefits the employer, researchers have attempted to discover what nurses perceive to be the benefits of certification.

Methods:
Competency & Credentialing Institute gave permission to use Perceived Value of Certification Tool. The Chief Nurse Executive gave permission to proceed & obtain contact for subjects. Approval obtained from Nursing Research Council & university research review board. March 23, 2012, RN's at Midwestern hospital received email invite 1 week before survey availability. Email outlined purpose & instructions for participation. Survey Monkey used. Survey opened 8am March 30, 2012. Daily email sent with a survey link. Survey took <5 minutes to complete. Survey was open for 7 days. 48 hours before closed, email thanking participants & reminder for participation sent. Survey closed 5pm April 6, 2012

Results:
250 nurses available. 106 participated; 4 surveys empty. 102 complete surveys. 11 had <2years experience: were excluded. 91 completed surveys=36% response rate. Data stratified by certification status. Chi-square analyses for 3 research questions conducted. If p value significant at 0.05 level, chi square test for each response choice VS all other choices was obtained. Results: “professional growth” was stat. significant, p value=.0129. "personal satisfaction” significant with p value=.0011. "enhances autonomy” favored a positive outcome, but not significant, p value=.0623. Both certified & non-certified RN's perceive certification = personal satisfaction & indicates professional growth.

Conclusions and Implications for Practice:
The results of this survey will be presented to the professional practice council and the nursing leadership group at the study hospital for request of support of increased promotion and assistance towards professional certification.